Facts and Stats
What the research shows
A whopping 93% of online business users have encountered problems with B2B websites. The most prevalent website shortcomings include signing up for a service (85%), researching a product (81%) and executing transactions (75%). -Motive Communications, July 2001
63% of software projects exceed their budget estimates, with the top four reasons all relating to product usability: frequent requests for changes by users, overlooked tasks, users’ lack of understanding of their own requirements, and insufficient user analysis communication and understanding. -Leaderer & Prassad, 1992
Recent estimates show 80% of software life-cycle costs occur during the post-release maintenance phase. -Pressman 1992
Studies by Forrester Research estimate that approximately 50% of potential sales are lost from a site as users can’t find data and that 40% of users do not return to a site when their first visit is a negative experience. 2002
45% abandon web sites with poor navigability, slow download times, or confusing content. -Boston Consulting Group, March 2000
35% of people who experienced problems on a particular site left that site for another. -Accenture Consulting, 1999 Holiday E-Commerce, February 2000
60% of interactions with “search” fail. -Jakob Nielsen, The web usability guru: 2001
65% of users have problems with navigation. -NetSmart 2000
Primary motivations for purchasing online: Convenience, 43%; price, 15%; selection, 13%; other, 8%; don’t know, 21%. -Investor’s Business Daily, 2000
The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 1999 holiday shoppers asked those consumers who did not make a purchase online to list reasons why they did not buy (multiple answers): Concern of return hassles, 39%; products not available, 32%; worry of gifts not arriving in time for the holidays, 31%; privacy concerns, 26%; dislike of shipping and handling charges, 20%. -Daily News Record, 2000
The most important drivers for repeat online sales (more than one answer possible): Quality of customer support, 65%; on-time delivery, 58%; shipping, 49%; product representation, 49%; posted privacy policies, 45%; ease of ordering, 24%; information, 24%; site looks/navigation, 23%; selection, 22%; price, 19%. - BizRate.com, 2000
Most common complaints among Internet users (multiple answers): Sites are too difficult to navigate, 87%; slow downloading, 84%; confusing home pages, 61%; boring content, 56%; lack of interactivity, 38%; don’t like having to use plug-ins, 37%. -NetSmartAmerica, 1999
The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 1999 holiday shoppers asked those consumers who did not make a purchase online to list reasons why they did not buy (multiple answers):
- Concern of return hassles, 39%;
- Products not available, 32%;
- Worry of gifts not arriving in time for the holidays, 31%;
- Privacy concerns, 26%;
- Dislike of shipping and handling charges, 20%
According to a study of 3,900 consumers, the most frequently cited concerns of U.S. online customers (multiple answers): Shipping costs too high, 53%; need to try on for fit, 38%; prices too high, 37%; not appropriate for large items, 37%; not appropriate for luxury items, 27%; want to see/feel item, 23%; not appropriate for perishable items, 21%; concern credit card information can be stolen, 19%. -Ernst & Young, 2000Online shoppers to five ecommerce user needs:
- Close-up images of products
- Stock availability information
- Product comparison reviews
- A search function
- A toll-free number for customer service
Source: 2001, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Columbus, Ohio; Base: 547 online shoppersA study by Zona Research (2000) found that 62% of Web shoppers have given up looking for the item they wanted to buy online.
67% of web shoppers click out of the shopping cart before completing a purchase. -Net Effect, June 1999
Miller on response times (1968) still considered valid:
- .01 second limit for system to appear to be instantaneous (ie applets for screen movement)
- 1 second limit before users flow of thought is interrupted (though delay would be noticed)
- 10 seconds limit for keeping the users attention focused (so 10 seconds max. for a page to load)
